A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and systems for communications between computers and other digital information devices. More particularly, this invention relates to communications between computers making use of digital satellite communications channels and computer local area networks, to provide access to the internet, to facilitate data and software distribution, and/or to enhance the capabilities of intranet systems for computers with connections to local area networks.
B. Description of Related Art
It is well established that computers can communicate across local or wide area networks. It is also well known that satellite receivers and transmitters can be used to transfer high volumes of digital data. Some efforts have been made to provide communication systems which can be used to transfer data between computer processors using a variety of communication mediums (see Moura et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,121). However, it is desirable to provide a high-speed, low-cost, satellite-based communication system which is designed to optimize the use of digital satellite systems for local area networks (LANs). Optimizing the use of the digital satellite channel is best accomplished through the use of asymmetrical communications between the computer server and the internet as opposed to symmetric communication, in which substantially the same data rates and the same media are used for both the transmit direction and the receive direction, and as opposed to communication system which employ asymmetrical communication between the local area network and the server. Particulary, asymmetrical systems which require upstream router hardware, "backbone" network hardware, or dial-up internet service providers (ISPs) to create a "hybrid" asymmetrical local system with a symmetrical local area network. Since calls to the internet can efficiently be made at relatively low speeds, and since using digital satellites as a communication medium provides the capability of very high speed responses from the internet, an asymmetric transmission from the internet across the digital satellite to the LAN server provides the greatest system efficiency.
The most common method of sending and receiving computer information today is a land line service (i.e., a switched service, a dedicated line, and/or an analog modem, each using telephone wire lines). However, such a system encounters may problems, including slow transmission speeds, high access costs, lack of available wire lines, and internet congestion.
Satellite communication receivers are commonly used to create or supplement existing private wide area data and video networks. When used as an extension to a data network, these satellite links may interconnect local area networks. Satellite links can provide many advantages over land line service, including potentially high speed data transmission and wide availability. However, typical satellite links have required expensive hardware both to transmit and to receive data. The expense of the hardware has made the use of satellite communication channels generally unavailable to those who most need it.
This invention addresses these issues by providing a method and system for providing the advantages of satellite communications for high volume download data packets and typically using a relatively low speed land line for the low volume upload data request packets. By capitalizing on the asymmetrical nature of internet dataflow, this invention provides an efficient solution for LAN to satellite internet communications.
For general background material the reader is directed to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,095,480, 5,379,296, 5,423,002, 5,488,412, 5,534,913, 5,539,736, 5,541,911, 5,541,927, 5,555,244, 5,583,997, 5,586,121, 5,594,872, 5,610,910, 5,610,920, 5,631,907, 5,659,692, 5,668,857, 5,673,265, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for the material disclosed therein.